Full of bright ideas

Habitat has had a rough few years, but it’s bouncing back in fine style, with a great new range of products,

J
ust over four years ago, Habitat suddenly disappeared from the Irish market, axing its retail outlets in Dublin and Galway with a loss of 60 jobs. The Irish franchise, which had been operated by Conai Designs, cited a severe downturn in sales due to the onset of recession. The Irish website also went offline, while its British equivalent refused to ship goods outside of the United Kingdom. Almost overnight, Irish buyers’ access to the firm’s edgy designs was shut off.

Habitat UK continued to operate as normal, but on June 24 last year 30 of its stores went into administration and just three in London were rescued after they were purchased for ¤30.4m by Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase.

This month, the battered brand begins a campaign to regain its mojo under a new creative director, Polly Dickens, with the launch of a happy, poppy autumn/winter